


Bend and Break

by Rose_of_Pollux



Series: Inktober for Writers 2018: Hurt/Comfort edition [1]
Category: The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (TV)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-01
Updated: 2018-10-01
Packaged: 2019-07-23 12:51:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16159340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rose_of_Pollux/pseuds/Rose_of_Pollux
Summary: A THRUSH captor wants to prove that he can break Napoleon Solo.  Napoleon has to figure out why.





	Bend and Break

Napoleon flinched as the THRUSH interrogators continued to beat him with sticks. He struggled to his knees; it took everything just to stay like that.

“You can end this suffering, Solo,” the THRUSH executive said, standing in front of him. “Just give me what I want.”

“There is nothing I have that could interest you,” Napoleon said, struggling to focus as everything around him started to go out of focus. “You won’t get any U.N.C.L.E. secrets from me. Lesser THRUSH agents than you have tried and failed…” He trailed off, his focus lessening.

The THRUSH executive snapped his fingers, and Napoleon shuddered as a bucket of cold water was dumped on him.

“Information?” he repeated. “Whoever said anything about information? There is nothing I need to know about pathetic U.N.C.L.E.—my inside men have already found out everything I needed to know. How else was I able to have you brought before me with such ease?”

Napoleon blinked, trying to stay conscious.

“Then… why am I here…?” he asked, his voice slightly slurred. “What… what do you want… from me…?”

“I want to prove that Napoleon Solo is breakable,” the executive said. “There’s nothing I _need_ to get from you, Solo. I just need to prove that I _can_.”

Napoleon winced as the executive’s hand, cold with the metal from the silver rings he wore, smacked him across the face. The hand then stopped in front of his face.

“Kiss the ring on my hand,” he ordered. “A simple show of surrender and fealty is all I need.”

Even through the cloudy haze of pain and dizziness, Napoleon hesitated.

“Oh, go on, Solo,” the executive said, waving his flunkies out of the room. “There, it is just the two of us now—no one else will be witness to your humiliation, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

Napoleon blinked.

“Then why… go through all this…?” he murmured. “What’s the point…?”

“To prove that I can!” the executive said. “To prove that I can break the unbreakable Napoleon Solo!”

“But if no one else will know, then why…?” Napoleon asked. “You’re not… doing this for yourself…” He trailed off, his glance falling onto the mirror in the room, taking up most of the wall space on the far wall. “…Who’s back there, watching us through the mirror?”

“What difference does it make?” the executive snarled. “Do you want this suffering to continue!? I am asking you to do one simple thing—one simple thing that will not bring any harm to your precious U.N.C.L.E., so why do you hesitate!?”

“Because you’re so insistent…” Napoleon murmured. “Who is watching us? Other THRUSH executives? …No. They wouldn’t sit by and watch you try to do what they’ve been trying; they’d be in here, trying, too… The only benefit to having me do this is to destroy the morale of my…” He trailed off, his eyes widening. “…My partner.”

Of course… THRUSH somehow had found out about Napoleon breaking during the Summit Five Affair, and how that had affected Illya. What better way to break him than by breaking Napoleon in front of his eyes again?

A fierce fire lit in his eyes as he got off of his knees and struggled to his feet.

“Do your worst.”

He nearly regretted that statement; the frustrated executive hit him several more times until he screamed at his underlings to throw him back into a cell.

Illya was soon thrown in the cell, as well, and after cursing their captors out in Russian, he tended to Napoleon’s wounds.

“Once you had figured out what was going on, you could have just done an act and pretended to surrender,” Illya softly said. “I saw the look in your eyes through the two-way mirror; I would have understood.”

“Well…” Napoleon said, keeping his eyes closed as he rested, flinching slightly as Illya disinfected his wounds. “…You know I’ve got a stubborn streak.”

“…I do, indeed.”

“Besides… I’d rather kiss you anyday.”

Illya paused, looking at him with a tender expression before gently kissing him. Napoleon managed a smile, relaxing as Illya continued to treat his wounds.

And as they were eventually rescued a few hours later by Mark and April, recovering together in Medical, Illya had to admit that he was, secretly, glad that Napoleon hadn’t broken and that, if nothing else, his partner’s pride was still intact.


End file.
